Of Trust and Time
by Kanna37
Summary: One simple misunderstanding leads to several days of separation between Inuyasha and Kagome. Once our favorite hanyou is forced to confront his miko about it, though, different viewpoints of the same thing are finally seen. Rating is for language.


**Of Trust and Time**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

-oOo-

"Close your eyes, Inuyasha, I've got a surprise for you!"

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed first, as he stared almost suspiciously at the young woman sitting next to him, then he nodded, turning to face her as he closed his eyes.

_Keh... I wonder what she's gonna give me - maybe a kiss? After all, I did save her from that bastard Takemaru and from Sou'unga... and since I haven't had another kiss since Kaguya's castle..._

With his thoughts heading in a certain oft-dreamed direction, he was at first unaware of what was happening - until he felt something settle over his head and down around his neck.

He didn't have to open his eyes to know what it was that she'd put on him.

Even he was shocked at the strength of the hurt and anger that flooded over him then, and his eyes snapped open as he grabbed the beads and tried to rip them back off.

"I thought you trusted me by now, Kagome! Why the hell'd'ya put these back on me?" he spat.

Kagome was just slightly taken aback at his response, and then blushed and turned her face away. "You were thinking something perverted, weren't you? And I do trust you, baka!"

"Then why'd you put these things back on me? Doesn't sound like trust to me!" With a glare that rivaled the deadliest one she'd ever laid on him, he got up and stalked off, leaving her sitting in the field, stunned at his reaction.

_Doesn't he know... or maybe he doesn't care, _she thought disjointedly to herself as she tucked her legs close to herself and began to cry. _Maybe, he doesn't want our connection anymore. After all, he doesn't really need me, except to find the tama._

A thought crossed her mind, then... one that had her heart and soul going cold with fear, and pain, sharp as a dagger, stabbing straight through her heart.

_Should I free him from our connection - from me? Is that what it would take to make him happy?_

-oOo-

Miroku eyed the surly hanyou striding at his side, wondering what had him in such a foul mood.

After all, they'd defeated Sou'unga, sending the evil blade back to hell where it belonged, and he'd even gotten the chance to see and be acknowledged by his father, even if only briefly.

Then he and Kagome had gone off on their own for a little while, and when he'd come back, tellingly alone, he'd been angry.

What could have happened between he and the young miko he was in love with this time?

No matter that he'd never admitted his love aloud, anyone who came in contact with the two knew how they felt about one another - it was blatantly obvious.

That's why this was so strange.

Despite the fact that they fought like cats and dogs, they always made up very quickly, as though they really couldn't stand to be angry and apart from each other for any length of time.

This time, though, they'd not spoken a word to each other in two days.

While Inuyasha appeared angry and hurt, Kagome just looked dejected and hurt. As though she'd lost her best friend...

With a glance at a concerned Sango, who walked near Kagome, Miroku made a decision. Shaking his staff, using the chiming noise as a way to garner everyone's attention, he said in a no-nonsense tone, "I feel that this is a good spot to make camp for this evening. Inuyasha, you and I will go hunt while the ladies and Shippo set up and get a fire going."

Ignoring the surprised sputtering of his only male friend, Miroku grabbed Inuyasha by the sleeve and hauled him away from the clearing they'd wandered into, leaving behind a startled fox kit, a worried taijiya, and a depressed miko.

The monk ignored every effort the hanyou made to pull away, instead tightening his grip as they moved steadily away from the soon-to-be camp. Once he was satisfied that they were far enough away so as not to be heard, he let go of the irritable male, and turned to face him.

"Alright, Inuyasha. It is time to stop moping, and start talking. What is wrong between you and the Lady Kagome?"

Inuyasha glared at him and shoved his hands inside his sleeves. "Feh. Not like it's any of your business, bouzo, so back off."

Miroku sighed, pinching his nose between two fingers to massage the pressure away.

"Perhaps not, strictly speaking, Inuyasha, but you are my friend, and Kagome is my friend. While you two have a tendency to fight a lot, it usually does not last this long, which means it is serious. I want to help."

Staring over at him for a moment, Inuyasha's shoulders finally slumped, and he looked away. "I'm angry, Miroku - after all this time, and everything I've done for her, and how much I... _care_ for her," he said softly, "she doesn't trust me." The last words were almost whispered, and Miroku could tell that those words really hurt his hanyou friend.

"Do not be so careful, Inuyasha," he said dismissively, "you love her, and everyone knows it." He rolled his eyes at his friends' sudden sputtering denials. "Now, what in hell makes you think that she does not trust you? Kagome trusts you more than she trusts herself."

"Then why'd she put these stupid beads back on me?" he half-shouted as he yanked at them... and suddenly, Miroku understood the angst riding his friend.

With a sigh, he sat down, and indicated the spot next to him, waiting for the hanyou to sit with him. Once he did, Miroku spoke.

"What do those beads mean to you, Inuyasha? Think carefully."

Inuyasha was taken aback by the absolute seriousness in his friends voice, and curbed his hasty speech, frowning as he thought about the beads, and what they stood for.

_What do they mean to me? I know why the old hag put them on me to begin with; so I wouldn't hurt Kagome. But she should know by now that I never would! _

His immediate anger at that thought suddenly chilled, then, as his consciousness spoke up - she _did _know that he would never hurt her, she'd proven it over and over. In fact, she seemed to know even better than he did that he'd never hurt her - she even trusted his blood-thirsty youkai side not to do so.

_But even more than that.. the beads - she uses them to get through to me when I'm being an ass... but also to control me._

He let out a low growl. "Well, she uses them to control me - so that I can't stop her when she wants to do something."

Miroku swung his staff and pounded the stubborn hanyou in the back of the head. "No, she doesn't use them to control you, Inuyasha - she uses them to stop you from controlling _her_. There _is_ a difference."

Inuyasha blinked, startled, still holding the back of his head protectively. _Keh?_

"Kagome has many responsibilities, Inuyasha, not just the ones to you. Would you have her dishonor her family? In her time, for her to leave behind this 'school' of hers, would_ be _to dishonor her family."

He flushed, grumbling out a sheepish 'no' in answer to the monk's question.

"I have spoken many times with Kagome... when she feels overwhelmed, and too stressed out anymore to cope, I have lent her my shoulder to cry on. She has almost too much on those slender shoulders of hers, Inuyasha, and when you fight her on her need to go home, it only makes things that much harder for her to bear. Are you _trying_ to break her?"

Inuyasha whipped around, growling in rage at that question. "What the fuck, Miroku? Don't you _dare_ ever ask me something like that again!"

With a steady stare, Miroku ignored the implicit threat. "Good. I am glad that the answer to that is a negative one. So - why are you angry that she put the kotodama back on you again?"

Inuyasha subsided into irritated grumbles, looking away from his friends far-too penetrating stare. "Keh. I get it, bouzo. Is that all ya gotta say?"

With a jingle of his staff, he stood, and shook his head. "Other than to remind you that you need to take Kagome aside and speak to her? Yes. Whatever was said between you two the other day has hurt her badly. It is up to you to make it right." Miroku dusted himself off, and beckoned the hanyou to follow him.

"Come, then. Let us find something for dinner, so we do not disappoint the two ladies awaiting us back at camp.

With a rather guilty huff, Inuyasha also dusted himself off, then followed his friend under the trees.

_Maybe I have been a little too mean to her about this..._

-oOo-

Inuyasha watched Kagome quietly all through dinner, and what he saw made him feel extremely guilty.

It was obvious that she was very hurt - but the worst of it was, from his point of view, anyway, that she was _afraid. _That hurt, more than anything else.

She should never be afraid of anything with him around, or afraid of _him_, ever.

What he couldn't understand, is what she was afraid _of._

Scowling, he watched her pick at her dinner - she needed to eat. There wasn't very much of her to begin with, she really couldn't afford to lose any weight.

He watched her play with her food for as long as he could stand it, then finally stood up and walked over to where she was doing everything she could to avoid looking at him.

Crouching down, he grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes, and said, "We need to talk, wench. Give the runt the rest of the food, since you're really not eating it, and come with me."

_Oh, gods, he's gonna tell me that he wants me to go home forever after taking off the beads..._

With a look of total misery, she sniffed, then nodded, handing her shish-kebab rabbit to the tiny kit.

Inuyasha reeled as her fear scent exploded. _Keh! What does she think I'm gonna do to her? _The horrid stench of her fear was setting him on edge, and he snapped out, "Why are you so scared of me now, Kagome, huh? Do you think I'm gonna attack you or somethin'?"

She shook her head, still without looking at him. "No, Inuyasha, I'm not afraid _of_ you. Can we just go and get this over with?" she whispered dejectedly.

He stood, shooting upright rapidly and grabbed her, swinging her up into his arms and leaping off into the trees before anyone could say another word. That tone in her voice was getting to him fast - he couldn't stand to see her like this, nor to hear the fear in her voice.

He had to get this taken care of... now.

Carefully taking her someplace a good distance from the camp so that no overly nosy monk, or kitsune, would get the chance to eavesdrop, he set her down the moment he found a place he was satisfied with, and then plopped down.

Dark as it was, there was still enough moonlight that he knew Kagome could see him well enough, and he gestured silently for her to take a seat next to him. Once she did, he sighed deeply, and looked over at her, easily seeing the melancholy expression on her face - and the fact that she'd been crying.

"Kagome," he began, frowning at the way she seemed to be bracing herself, "what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you so jumpy?"

Kagome shuddered, surprised he'd even ask her that. "Why don't you just get it over with, Inuyasha?" she asked, misery absolutely drenching the air around her.

He reared back, confused as he stared at her. "Get what over with, baka? Just what is it you think I wanted to talk to you about?"

At that, she began to cry again, rocking herself back and forth with her arms wrapped defensively around her body. "Th-that you want me to take off the beads - you don't want us to be connected anym-more, and you want me to go home and s-stay away," she sputtered out between sobs.

Inuyasha, to say the least, was absolutely stunned. Shocked beyond measure, he could only stare at the heartbroken young woman for several long seconds, unable to even speak.

_W-what? Where the fuck did she get _that_ idea?_

Finally, as Kagome's sobs continued on with no sign of quitting, he broke, and reaching over, he yanked her into his arms, horrified that that was what she'd been thinking.

_She sees the beads as a...?_

"You think of the beads as a connection... between us?" he asked, that description of the kotodama having caught his attention.

Kagome looked up at him, eyes drenched, and nodded solemnly. "Yes! Of course I do! If you didn't have them anymore, you wouldn't be able to go through the well to my time - they're what ties us together!"

Inuyasha blinked, stunned.

He felt a total fool in that moment... Miroku had been right. He'd completely overreacted to her when she'd put the beads back on him. And he'd forgotten about the link between the necklace and the well...

He shuddered fearfully as he thought of never being able to get through the well to see her again.

"I... didn't even remember about that," he said softly, head down guiltily. "I'd hate it if I couldn't go through the well to see you when you go back..." he trailed off as thoughts of being stuck without her assailed him.

The young woman in his lap sniffled, and hiccuped, surprised. "You... you mean, you weren't trying to get rid of me?" she asked quietly, yet hopefully.

His head jerked up at that, eyes wide. "Hell no!" he practically yelled, forcibly lowering his voice when she flinched back. "Why would you think I'd do that, wench?" he finished, almost belligerently.

Kagome lowered her head, and stared into her lap at her fidgeting fingers. "Uhm... because you're tired of protecting me, and I'm only good for finding the tama - and because you could have Kikyou join you if I wasn't here," she said, so softly that even he, with his advanced hearing, almost missed it.

He jerked as if he'd been shot, and stared at her, mouth hanging open. "_What the fuck, wench?"_ he hissed, grabbing her by the upper arms, he shook her just a little. "Is that what you _really _think of me?"

She stared up at him sadly, then shook her head. "No... that's what I think of _me_, Inuyasha."

Completely astounded, he smoothed a hand down his face, and stared at her, totally taken aback at how much confusion was between them - and all because of a stupid set of beads.

"Keh. We need to start talking more. This shit went way too far - and over some stupid misunderstanding, too. What did I tell you when you went through the well when we were fighting Menomaru? I told you that I need you with me, didn't I?"

She nodded, still sniffling a little, and he wiped the last tears from her face.

"I meant it, woman, and I'll still mean it a hundred years from now. I got stupid over the beads - I forgot about them connecting us through time, and all - I just thought you didn't trust me, and were afraid that I'd hurt you. I didn't want to get rid of you!"

It was Kagome's turn to be surprised. "You thought that I was afraid of you? That I didn't trust you?"

She tilted her head, obviously still trying to take in his words, then said, "Inuyasha... if I didn't trust you, I wouldn't put the beads _on_ you."

Confused, he wrinkled his nose, all while snuggling her closer to him. "What do you mean?"

"If I were afraid that you were dangerous... if I didn't trust you, I'd never let you keep something on that gave you access to my family. They are the most precious things I have, and if I was worried that you were going to hurt them in the slightest bit, I'd never let you through that well_ at all_."

Dumbfounded, he blinked at her, then blinked again, before taking in a deep breath, inhaling her scent. He wanted to make sure she was being absolutely truthful.

She was. There was nothing clouding her wonderful scent except total honesty.

She meant it, and suddenly, warmth drenched him as he took her words into his wounded soul and let them echo throughout him. _She trusts me that much... she trusts me with her family. With their safety..._

Heart in his eyes, he lunged forward and kissed her, even more determined to never let her go, to never be separated from her...

Hell, if that's what it took, he'd wear that damn kotodama until the day he died, and she could sit him as much as she pleased.

With that one sentence, she'd healed every bit of the hurt that Kikyou's _mis_trust of him had caused, and there was no way that she was going to get away from him.

She was _his_.

-oOo-

A/N: Just a few things that occurred to me about time and the beads, and the connection between the two that led off from the third movie ending... hope everyone enjoys my rambling.

Amber


End file.
